The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) took part in the Global Smart Education Conference (GSE 2026), held in Beijing, China, from August 18 to 20, 2026. The event brought together leading policymakers, experts, researchers, and representatives of international organizations as well as academic and technology institutions from around the world.
ALECSO’s participation in the Conference is part of its continued engagement in international efforts to advance smart education and harness artificial intelligence (AI) to promote education. It also reflects its role as a founding member of the Global Smart Education Network (GSENet), which brings together international institutions, organizations, and universities to enhance cooperation and the exchange of expertise in digital transformation and the future of education.
ALECSO was represented at the conference by Dr. Mohamed Jemni, Director of ICT, who delivered a keynote address during the plenary session entitled: “From Artificial Intelligence to Collective Intelligence: Shaping the Future of Education.”
Dr. Jemni addressed the rapid transformations taking place in education amid major advances in artificial intelligence. He emphasized that the challenge is no longer limited to developing increasingly capable AI systems, but also concerns how these capabilities can be harnessed to build collective intelligence that combines human intelligence, artificial intelligence, institutional intelligence, and international cooperation.
Dr. Jemni highlighted a number of ALECSO’s key initiatives in the fields of AI and digital transformation, particularly in AI governance and ethics, capacity-building, smart education, and digital solidarity. He stressed the importance of moving beyond simply adopting new technologies toward building the capacity of institutions and countries to responsibly use and govern these technologies.
In this regard, he underscored the need to strengthen digital solidarity and international cooperation in the age of AI, thereby enabling countries, particularly developing ones, to benefit from the opportunities offered by these technologies and to play an active role in shaping their future, rather than remaining merely consumers thereof.
Dr. Jemni called for moving beyond the concept of “Smart Education” toward a broader concept of “Wise Education,” so that the success of AI in education should not be measured solely by the extent to which the technology is sophisticated, but by its ability to empower people, improve learning, and advance equity, inclusion, and responsibility. He concluded by emphasizing that the question guiding the global debate on the future of AI and education should not only be “How much smarter will AI become?”, but also “How can AI help humanity become collectively wiser?”
ALECSO’s participation in GSE 2026, together with its founding membership in GSENet, reflect its commitment to strengthening the Arab presence in the international dialogue on the future of education and artificial intelligence, while building international partnerships that contribute to the development of more innovative, equitable, and inclusive education systems.
